Wednesday, July 16, 2008

All the investigators found was a 380 caliber handgun, $12 in cash, a baseball cap, and a bag of T-shirts in a trash bin. They are till looking for the animals who took Anissi Ndeumajado's life, and critically injured his wife.

Years ago Ndeumajado immigrated to this country from West Africa. He started a small business selling T-shirts under a tent. He worked hard, saved his money, and sent some back home to his family in Mali. He was also finally able to send back home for his wife, who joined him here ten years ago.

Yesterday, in broad daylight, two animals took his life and critically injured his poor wife. Mr. Ndeumajado was in his store with his wife when shortly after 1:30PM, the two punks came inside and tried to rob them. Instead, the men ---who are believed to be between the ages of 16-20---ended up shooting the poor man, killing him on the spot, and critically injuring his wife, who staggered outside the store before collapsing.

Obviously, the shooting left the community and Mr. Ndeumajado's tight circle of friends, devastated. Here was a man who came to this country, worked hard---by all accounts he would work seven days a week in his store---, and tried his damnedest to pursue the A-merry-can dream. It's a shame that these two animals had to take it away from him on a hot July afternoon. And let me say this right now: I am somewhat familiar with the Philadelphia business climate, and I guarantee you that nothing was given to Mr. Ndeumajado that he didn't work hard for. I am sure that there were no handouts, no special privileges, and no hook ups. All the poor man had was a good work ethic and a dream.

"You couldn't meet a more beautiful couple. He came here to make a better life for him and his kids, that was his dream."

Oh yes the A-merry-can "dream." Everyone is trying to chase it, but it can be so elusive. No one told that to Mr. Ndeumajado. He needed to know that right on the other side of that dream was a nightmare. A nightmare in which cold blooded young killers who think they are owed what you worked your whole life for, decide that they will take it from you at the point of a gun. A nightmare where single mothers and grandmothers try to raise men, after some sperm donor made a deposit and kept getting up. A nightmare where our government spends billions of dollars to protect people half way around the world, but can't spend even half of that to protect their own people right here at home. All the jobs are gone to China, the schools are gone to the dogs, and nobody gives a damn.

" He never got robbed in all those years he was working in Kensington...They moved their store up here because they thought it would be safer, I can't believe this happened."

I can, and it will continue to happen until the type of shit that happens to hard working African immigrants, start happening to fresh faced blue eyed A-merry-cans.

So now you know about Anissi Ndeumajado. And unless you live in the Philly area, or you read this blog, you would never have heard about him; and more than likely, unless you come back to this post, you will never hear about him again.

Tonight I am angry. Angry at the people who lie to us everyday. Angry at the people who don't care. And angry at motherfuckers who turn people's dreams into nightmares.

No singaporeswim, I didn't. Wow! Thanks for the link. But this is what I am talking about. If you don't live in the communities where these terrible things are taking place, you would never hear about them.

Your hood in Phili reminds me of my hometown of Youngstown. A former steel town that once represented the American dream to working class immigrants, now it's an American nightmare. A city that has totally imploded following the closing of the mills and is one of the most dangerous cities in America. It's the decline of midwestern civilization Field. Ohio, Penn, Michigan, these states are dying slowly.

We have said it over and over for so long that it might have lost its impact, but the salient point in your post, the root of all is "peope who don't care," When people don't care, there is nothing to brake (and break) the darkness. When people don't care, violence escalates from stealing candy to stealing lives. We cannot expect someone else to care, because they might just only care about someone else. We have to care. Thanks for the post.

The key in my opinion is exactly what coyotefe just said... WE HAVE TO CARE. And that means care about those motherfucking killers, too. Maybe if someone had shown them care when they were younger... (they are still babies in my mind). By care I mean show them that their life matters, that someone does care what happens to them. That we care enough to expect and support and want wonderful and great things for them. We have taken "rugged individualism" to its ugliest extreme and this is the end result. We, the collective we, must see that these killers are killers because no one, (including me) showed them there is something else..... Until we as a society are willing to see all children as OUR children... the ugliness and violence will continue.

"A nightmare where our government spends billions of dollars to protect people half way around the world, but can't spend even half of that to protect their own people right here at home. All the jobs are gone to China, the schools are gone to the dogs, and nobody gives a damn."

I agree, and I'm so, so sorry to hear this tragic story. If we had even a handful of policy makers who worked as hard or cared as much about "the American Dream" as Mr. Ndeumajado did...

I am left to wonder why there is growing resentment in some black communities towards black immigrants from the Carib and from Africa who are coming here and achieving business and home ownership through hard work.

I do not believe for ONE SECOND that this murder was a robbery that ended in murder... I believe that that murder was a message to other immigrants who are in that area...there are MANY UNSPOKEN "beefs" between black Americans and black immigrants.

Thank you for using your blog to give the REAL NEWS that black people need to focus on... we all saw repetitive re-enactments of the fist bumps and white pundits in discussion over that triviality and yet THOUSANDS of black people are dying every day and not a sentence on the front page...not a paragraph...unless of course... a white person is killed by a black person...and THEN ....oh then yes.... it would be on EVERY SINGLE station every day.

Fine post. I saw something not tragic, but still.... An Indian couple owned a covenience store near where I worked. It was clean, fair prices, good coffee, they were nice folks, worked long hours. Safe area in a small downtown. Sometimes they brought in their baby & put her on a blanket on the floor behind the register. Some cretin held them up with a gun in daylight while the baby was there, freaked them totally out. The wife & baby never appeared in the store again. The owner brought in his uncle who stood by the door looking suspiciously at everyone, it stopped being a place where you'd get a coffee & hang out & chat for awhile. But I couldn't blame them.

Horrible story. Now, what can we do about it? What are you doing about it that we can emulate and use as an example?How do we go about changing the culture that causes people to kill innocent people for a few dollars?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH US? How can we blame others who dont want to live around us when most of us dont want to live around us? Whos kidding whom here. We all know 90% of the 170 killed in Killy and the killers who took their lives were black. We all know that. Just heard a story where 7 brothers were feeling up a 12 yr old at an amusement park. When her father (father, ya hes white) stepped in they stomped him into a coma. Sure they got the lineup of all 7 playing on the news. I heard the story and got that feeling in my stomach....please let them be white....I knew better. I am so depressed Field. So many of us in jail and I feel they all need to be there. So many more running the streets that need to be put away. Why do you mention "fresh faced blue-eyed". If this happened to whites they would demand po-po on every corner. OH but not us. Whites would snitch and work together to rid themselves of these vipers..OH but not us. Whites would demand jail sentences and not make excuses for such animals..But not us. Not us Field.

You have finally reached my state of mind....my level of pissivity. Welcome aboard.

Nicely written post...

This reminds me of a similar incident in my area just a few weeks ago, where a very popular St. Louis businessman was gunned down. The murder took place in an Illinois suburb. He was not the intended target of the suspect....just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Shot with an AK-47.

Ironically, one of the motto's of the victim, known as "The Rose Man" (owned his own flower shop in the inner city) was that the violence and the killings needed to stop in the Metro area.... yet he fell victim to the violence that he was so passionately against. The problems have gotten so bad in & around St. Louis that city Aldermen are pleading for the Governor to send the National Guard. A funeral home in North St. Louis was sprayed a few months ago...during services for someone who was...you guessed it...murdered.

If this isn't anarchy, then we are damn close to it.

But your ending comments pretty much sums up where my head is (and has been for quite a while).

But this is why I would like to see you this pissed all the time.... you tend to go soft on the urban terrorists, and want to let them all out of jail, allow them to have guns, etc.

Although a gun didn't help the victim in this case (and they don't always work to save a victim) I believe good people at least need the option and deserve at least a chance. Maybe for the next victim.

But we need to get to the heart of the problem....and deal with the causes. The BC has turned a blind eye to the issues of rampant fatherlessness (and have in fact now accepted it as a normal social condition for themselves).

But as you mentioned... the government has played a role as well, by not investing in these communities, and by not providing adequate help (options) for working class, poor, lower income Americans, not investing in schools, not investing in children, etc. The $10-12 Billion a month wasted in Iraq could fund many useful, helpful programs here at home that could mitigate a lot of this madness. Even one months worth of Iraq funding could fund useful programs for many years. And we've wasted nearly a trillion dollars? It's absolute insanity.

The Country has its priorities completely out of order. We have Teachers who have to literally fight with students, work in warzone schools, can't get support from their bosses, and can barely earn a living wage. But a guy can run up and down a basketball court...and can earn Millions...playing a game.

But government is only half the problem, the other half comes from within the BC... from this stupid Hip Hop culture that has re-ordered what Black youth see as important in life....has changed what they value...and why. Blacks turn a blind eye to this problem too.... I don't think they will ever break out of the state of denial they are in on these social issues.

Barack Obama gave a speech on Personal responsibility to the NAACP a couple of days ago.... and he was on the mark. Yet many Blacks will vilify him, just as they did regarding his Fathers Day speech. Blacks get combative whenever they are faced with the issue of personal responsibility. In fact, they (many) seem to hate the idea of anyone bringing up the issue.

But these problems will not go away until those in the BC who need to face these issues of personal responsibility collectively decide to end the denials and face up the problems.

We can have the best social programs in the World over the next 20 years (hypothetically), but if the same social/cultural conditions and the same "collective Black denial" (Black groupthink) remains, then we will be discussing the same problems 20 years from now.

[quote]Tonight I am angry. Angry at the people who lie to us everyday. Angry at the people who don't care. And angry at motherfuckers who turn people's dreams into nightmares.[/quote]

Sounds like an excellent candidate for the death penalty - if found. Oh sorry. Wrong blog. No one can commit an act that warrants the STATE "murdering" them. My bad.

We'll just have to focus on getting these guns off of the street.

IF ONLY the THUGS assisted us in creating such a Utopia.

Until "the ocean boils" Philly will simply have to get used to the fact that about 400 people, mostly Black people, will die each year until YOUR POLICIES kick in and start working.

You are staring the cost of you abstract policies right in the face but are loathed to open your eyes and take a good look at what you see.

Field-Negro you must get buy in from the Thugs and have them follow your dreams. Get them angry on some EXTERNAL entity and they will join you on this perpetual external chase, turning their guns away from each other and innocent people who get caught up in the crossfire.

Absent some external threat, real or manufactured.....the cancer begins to consume its host that ACCOMMODATES them.

I keep retyping my comments I'm so angry. These stories are not isolated. This happens all the time in certain cities. When I lived in L.A. you could not turn on the news without hearing about some home invasion robbery, gang shooting or store robbery.

I have a received a little bit of flack from some white american expats here who love to talk about how great America is and how Italy is a mess. When they start going on about the American dream and how it's a great meritocracy, I have to disagree. True in Italy one out of three people find their jobs through a connection. However, over 80 percent of the businesses here are family owned and it's almost impossible to fire someone who has a contract. So hell yeah I would only hire someone that I know.

Yes the red tape here will bring you to your knees but all is not sunny in America. A Latina expat said to me that for most of the Anglo-American expats it's the first time in their lives they are the "other" , straniera (foreign) and they don't like it.

Guess what for the "others" in America it's not so great. Even the folks who are born in America, die in wars for America, sing the National Anthem at the top of their lungs for America, work hard, study hard etc. if you look like me you're an other.

I thought someone would bring up guns as a solution. If that were the case the funeral home would not have been sprayed with bullets. You may defend your life one day, but how successful would you be from retaliation of that homicide. How long will it be to become a vigilante society or when murder will become a preemptive action? Then the governments response will be genocide.

Is anyone old enough to remember the movie "Little Murders"?

I think enough black people recognize the problem, but there seems to be no on the ground creative solutions. Very few blacks even want to actually touch a child.

Field, you always make me think. The comments have been very interesting on this one too. I'm out in California. The stories I see like this are generally out of San Francisco and Oaktown. Truth be told, our area is just now becoming as violent as the big cities on the east coast have been for years and years.

I don't know what the solution is. I'm probably going to have to write over on my site about this. I have too much to say. It's environmental for sure. Children learn from the family and the community. If we as a nation aren't willing to break the cycle, it will spiral downward. It's also Reagan's fault. He led this country to believe that taxes are bad (they aren't, they're necessary to the continued success of the republic) and that we should all just take what we want. He is why one community is focused on bling and another is a bunch of self absorbed asses. He brought us ice and Ken Lay. He cut the education to the point that it's oppressive for an inner-city kid to try and rise above.

But at the end of the day, we need to own our shit. We are just a bunch of animals who have lost their humanity.

Ok field, not to change the subject, but I read your response to con. feed. and I couldn't help but to wonder. Don't you think the killer(s) of Mya Lyons should be put to death?? In fact, I'm disappointed it's not a slow painful death. C'mon feld, I'm not dazzled by it either, but we got to do something with these robbing, raping, killing animals.

Lisa, what you're saying is true, but you've been mingling with some of them in the black female blogsphere (not every teeth grin is a smile). There is too much hidden prejudices going on among us black folk. Warning, please note everything out their mouth is for the betterment of "AA women" only, oppose to black women in general. They have an excuse for that, yet they act as though they know every damn thing outside of America anyway. Just don't keep reminding them you're from an "island". That's like being in a sub category of "DBRism" too.

Ok, sorry Field, my chest got heavy this morning. I'm tired. It seems the criminals have more rights and power. Including Bush and his cronies.

Look around this country in EVERY DAMN major city, Killy, Memphis, Oaktown, Miami, St. Lou, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Orleans...AD FUCKING NAUSEUM. The killings, chaos, mayhem, violence has one common thread. African-Americans. It doesnt seem to be the place, seems to be the race.

Its OUR kids dropping out of school. OUR kids makin the shorties. OUR kids shootin and lootin. In every city you can go to the black part of town and see exactly the same thing; garbage, grown ass men sittin in the street doin absolutely nothing, dilapidated buildings that were new ten yrs ago, pregnant teens pullin two kids to the bus stop, packs of teens menacing all they come in contact with. And by the way, do yourself a favor and step a foot in an urban high school, an eye-opening experience to be sure. Something RADICAL needs to be done. Something that will no doubt piss off many of us. -Moses-

Blackwoman; I think you are entirely wrong about motivation for this crime. I agree with you on the resentment towards African & Carib immigrants. You see, we have been sold a bill of goods by our leaders (Jesse for one) that we cannot succeed because of the color of our skin. Whitey wont let us. THEN we see our dark-skinned brothers immigrate here and through hard work and sacrifice they do indeed succeed. They show us what it takes to make it and many of us are used to sitting around getting a govt check and simply dont have the motivation to start at the bottom and work for years to make it. We ridicule those who excel academically (gasp!) so our kids have no smarts or skills to get a good job. We place ultimate worth on gold chains, expensive shoes and $100k cars. Our kids are left with this quandry. They have no skills to get big money, yet the worth of a man is the money he has and the bling he can show. How does he rectify this? He steals from those who have it. Simple as that. Try walking down a street in black Killy with a rolex and gold chain showin, we all know what will happen. You may make it out, your bling wont. I dont know what the solution is. With 70% of our kids born to a babymama the last 10 yrs it seems like it will get worse before it gets better. Govt cant change it, whitey cant change it theyve got their own problems. Im not sure we can change it either. Maybe the po-po can.

Most murderers are either committed spontaneously, such as this case, where people panic or react without any forethought, or they're committed by people who don't give a shit (Serial killings, gang murderers, mass murderers, etc).

The "deterrent" effect of the death penalty kicks in after the fact, but by then, it's too late.

Lets look beyond the killings in Killy Field; How many people have been shot and survived? How many people have been shot at and missed? How many people been robbed at gunpoint and gave it up quickly averting a shooting? How many guns jammed? THOUSANDS? TENS OF THOUSANDS?

Fairlane throws out a strawman which is just silly, no solutions there.

Heres a solution; Start holding parents responsible for the willful misconduct of their children. Mother AND Father (wherever he is) Parents whos children commit crimes will lose their section 8 (no need to expose other good people to criminals). MUCH tougher juvenile punishments, no more simple probation second time around. Need more jails and prisons? BUILD EM. Need more police? GET EM. Need more social workers? HIRE EM. Oh yes, it will be costly and some local community roosters will be pissed off. Lazy parents might just get off their asses and give a shit about their kids.

It seems the horrors that are endured are a second rate issue for politicians even my pick obama seems to very rarely talk about the violence in the Black community it is sad yes, but we need the govn't help and our social nations's help as well as our own help

Trust me, the same damn thing IS happening to your so-called "blue-eyed a-merry-cans." I come from a white working class, mostly irish catholic neighorhood, inhabited by 2nd and 3rd generation americans, the great great grand children of people who were themselves slaves to the britiish during Cromwell governement.

You really don't know what marginalization is until you're a blue-eyed middle-class american these days. No one is rooting for you to succeed, everyone assumes you're entitled when in actuality you're the bastard throwaway byproduct of a single parent household dealt the same shitty hand as working-class black folks, and because of this you never get a break. Sure there aren't many homicides in my neighborhood, but suicides happen all the time. The psychological impact of an American culture that breeds guilt in the white man—and why, I ask, should I feel guilty—is just as deadly as a bullet to the head.

I'm not exactly sure what field you're tilling, but I'm certain if you took the blinders of anger, resentment, and hostility off for a second, you'd see hard-working white folks right there with you. This isn't about race, it's about class.

My 20 y.o. sister was robbed at gunpoint in the middle of a hot summer day in AL this past Tuesday, while she was putting her 2 week old baby in his car seat outside of the HOSPITAL after his doctor's appointment (after she sat waiting for 1.5 hours for the doctor NOT TO SHOW UP, but that's another story). The fool took her wallet with a little bit of money in it that she worked hard for, then just threw her wallet on the ground in some lady's backyard (so she was able to get it back).

I would have thought even the most evil criminal would not rob a woman with a young baby-even Tony Montana (Scarface) didn't kill the man with his kids around! I really don't know what to say about some Black men acting as criminals nowadays...it's getting scary. I mean, she was in BROAD DAYLIGHT!!! When I get finished working out, it's still daylight when I get home-it could have happened to me! My other sister is a nurse working long hours at the Children's Hospital-it could happen to her!

FN: YOu are preaching to the choir. I'm this close to cutting loose all the work I do with community policing because there is just no political will to deal with the primarily black posse of predators in Oakland who are creating mayhem from one end of the city to another. The common refrain/excuse is "racism, disenfranchisement, no jobs, lack of opportunity, poor schools," etc. Now, much of that is true and yet an awful lot of poor people are not criminals. Not to mention that a lot of the little thugs out here now don't necessarily come from disinfranchised famililes. There are a fair representation of middle class wannabe thugs who are out here making a mess of their lives.

People are hard pressed (especially black people and the most annoying of white liberals) to let go of the notion that committing violent crime is choice. Period. I'm all about providing youth and ex offenders with all the support they need to live productive lives. I'm not letting anyone off the hook for their rotten childhood as an excuse for committing brutally violent crimes.

Oh, my, laughing and wiping tears from my eyes. I just read the side bar about "this is not racism" or "is this racism?" Anyway, this reminds me of the "niggardly" debate in D.C. some years back. How can a man be a judge and not have heard of the term black hole? Golly, gee, gosh, black folks can be so entertaining sometimes.

WestCoast, You know as well as I do that there is no political will to attack the black crime problem because it is mostly a black crime problem and anybody in the public forum who identifies it as a "primarily black problem" will be villified in the public. Possibly even by the author of this blog. If a white guy said "we must get hold of the problem of black crime" he would be visited by many a Rev and many an acitvist. He would be labeled as KKK, his career would be over and his name would be synonymous with David Duke and Jesse Helms. That is why nothing is being done and nothing will be done. Bros and sis's learn to live with the crime and violence because our "leaders" wont let honest discussion happen. -Moses-

I have heard more black folks than I care to count say that they are not willing to incarcerate any more black men. Period. That's what I'm talking about. The problem is certainly a complicated one but it starts with attitudes and families. The middle class is willing to put up with crime because they don't live in the neighborhoods where crime is a BIG problem. It's easy to be generous with criminals when you don't have to live around them.

Just to clarify: Crime in Oakland is a black problem but it will one day be a Latino problem like it is San Jose and LA. For years crime was a Chinese problem in SF due to the gangs. Crime doesn't belong to any one group. In the suburbs it sho' 'nuff is a white problem. It happens to be black in a lot of urban areas but believe me that will change when the demographics change.

But the issue is if people have the courage to stand up to their "group" and say enough already. In Oakland, anyway, that isn't happening. I thought the murder of journalist Chauncey Bailey by the remnants of the Your Black Muslim Bakery clan would be a big wake up call but Negroes are still defending what the Bakery was all about. It turns out that it was all about organized crime in addition to helping some ex offenders.

I have to stop because I could go on for a very long time about this stuff. I'm watching a whole generation of black youth just wasting their lives with the full support of their incompetent parents. It just makes me want to holler and throw up both of my hands. I'm too old to be doing this stuff. I'm ready to move to the 'burbs and retire. You young people need to figure this out. I'm tired.

SOMETHING needs to be done, so if the items you listed get the job done, but if it means more knuckleheads end up in jail, and women have to actually WORK to take care of their kids (and/or stop having so many, or any at all), then so be it.

Also, I'm tired of hearing the line about "these Black men need jobs," or "poverty is the reason they're doing what their doing." There are jobs out here for these men (and women). Plenty of them. Problem is, well there's two problems, I think:

1. they don't want "those" jobs-they want to make big $$$ doing little or no work, and not go to school to get any further education or specialization; 2. frankly, some of them can't keep their urine/hair samples/saliva clean [from drug use], and aren't willing to get and stay clean to obtain and retain a job. I KNOW OF PLENTY OF THEM WITH THIS MINDSET.

So spare me with the "they need jobs and a way out of poverty." If the victim in this post can do it coming all the way from Africa, surely these men can make SOMETHING {POSITIVE} happen for them too.

The problem is that there are plenty of jobs. The best jobs we can't qualify for because we blew off school and are not equipped with even the most basic of communicatino skills. One of the things that comes up for Oakland when we talk economic development is that businesses want to locate where there is a ready pool of talent to hire. That ain't Oakland. yes, our school system is awful, really awful. (And lousy school board members get voted onto council where they do equally execrable work.)

As bad as the schools are, you can still learn. Some kids come out of flatland schools and DO go on to college. But it takes hard work and support from parents and the community. How about we spend some time starting fund raisers for kids in school rather than some knucklehead on death row who admits he did bad things but is now a good guy and deserves a second chance? Our priorities are farked up. I wish we had spent as much time and effort on cleaning up our school systems as we did trying to keep the state from frying Tookie williams (and yes, I am against the death penalty, but really...)

AMEN Randi: The africans can make it here but the african-americans need help to do it? COME ON NOW.

I take issue with Fairlane. Negative reinforcement does indeed work. Nobody sitting in a jail cell committed a crime in my neighborhood. When they were let out...different story. We are absolutely not being punitive enough with violent criminals. When some brothers at age 25 have upwards of ten felonies on their records and are free on the street, we aint doin enough. He shouldnt be on the street. Jail is the place for a victimizer like that. When 17 yr olds are slapped on the wrist for violent crimes, it does nobody any good. Mychel Bell of Jena 6 fame had three violent felonies before the white boy beat down. He broke the jaw of a 14 yr old girl a year prior yet Rev Al still stood up and called him a good kid. God help the neighborhoods those kids live in (I heard one was arrested for rape a couple of months ago). But we all marched to get them released into our community. I bet if babymamas knew they would lose the govt teat if their kids misbehaved, they would get off the couch and watch them. You see THAT is what will stop the problem. Each individual parent will give the kid what they need. Right now, parents dont give a shit. THEY wont get any grief and the check will still come every week. Shaqueena dont care if her babies take other peoples shit...start messin with Shaqueenas chips and youll get that fat black ass movin..GA-RON-TEE!

West Coast Story: Just like the knucklehead that robbed my sister the other day with her 2 week old baby in her arms-someone in the neighborhood/city knows where he is, and what he did, but they won't "snitch", and the police really don't care, even though all my sister was trying to do was take her newborn to a doctor's appt. The people in the 'hood will take better care of the guy that robbed her than her and my nephew! If he does ever do time, his mama will throw him a "Welcome Home from Jail" party like it's a graduation party! Like you said, messed up priorities.

Randi I wouldnt put any of it at the feet of the police. They do indeed care but what can they do if the community stonewalls them at every step. Damn right some people know the fool and probably laughed at the story he told them while emptying a 40. The police would like nothing better than to catch the soggy fuck its the community who turns a deaf ear. Im black and got no problem with the po-po. Been pulled over a time or two, showed them my intact paperwork and was sent on my way. Not rollin dirty, no worries. The police must be frustrated as hell. They know people can help them but they get nothing but hostility from the black community. Fucked up priorities to be sure. I cringe when thug fools like Pacman Jones scream "profiling" when the clown is at a strip club at 4am and a dude is shot. Profiling my black ass. Shut the fuck up! One thing we need to do is to work with law enforcement. Theyre the good guys. You gonna call the GDs when some knuckleheads breaking into your house? Good fucking luck! -Moses-

Randi; Of course its a stereotype. Thats what were dealing with. The kids making war zones of our communities ARE stereotypes. We all can describe them. Sideways ballcaps or head bandanas, pants sagging to their knees, walking like a chimp at the zoo, fake ass gold rope round their necks, ridin in a hoopty with spinnin 20's, loud vulgar speech. My dear coast to coast, nothin but walking stereotypes. Oakland or Boston THE SAME STUPID ASS CHARACATURES. Mothers are no different. Weve got to start bringing these fools to task for such cartoonish behavior.

Anon 2:56 PM: I don't want to sound like one of those "police haters": I'm definitely not one of them. I know plenty of good cops, men and women.

What I mean is that honestly I think the police are plain tired (and don't have the man/womanpower and funds) of trying to catch all of these dumb, brazen criminals.

So since (thanks to God) my sister and nephew wasn't hurt or killed, they're not really going to pursue the case intently. I was robbed @ knifepoint in 2002 when I working a summer job @ Subway, and to this day, the man has never been caught, and I hadn't heard a thing from the police or Subway.

As far as profiling goes: I don't know that I'll have a problem since I'm a 28 y.o. Black female. I know Black men in my age group will. But I feel that if you aren't doing anything wrong, have your papers for your car, and don't hang in the wrong crowds, you shouldn't have a problem with it. We as Black people need to be honest:there is a crazy number of Black teens and adults committing crimes. Sad, but it is what it is. Just like they're doing profiling for Arabic people (which I work with a few good people of Arabic descent) in relation to terrorism, it's coming to a time when it's going to have to be done with Black [men].

Randi: My heart goes out to your sister. yes, someone knows something and isn't saying anything. That's the horrible part. Getting people to cooperate with the police is tough. Some of it is genuine fear but a lot of it is just dislike of cops and apathy.

The cops have to be whipped into shape to be responsive to the community. But it takes leadership in city hall to make that happen (and a really effective police chief). The community has to do its share also. It's funny but one of the best people in my neighborhod to cooperate with cops is an ex con.

I'm talking too much. Obviously a subject close to my nerve center.

My prayers to the family of the deceased and his critically injured wife. What happened to them is just an outrage.

I recall a previous response to a similar FN post that said crime may be everywhere but it it MORE everywhere in certain areas than others. The facts bare this out. The most violent cities in this country have a high concentration of black people pure and simple!

I have NO patience for foolishness and I have no sympathy for poor, uneducated black criminals. For crying out loud was that not the condition of most blacks in this country for hundreds of years--poor and uneducated? WE DID NOT GO AROUND WANTONLY MURDERING EACH OTHER OR INNOCENT PEOPLE THEN SO WHY NOW?

These fools deserve our complete and utter disdain. More than shunning, ostracizing or even ignoring them we must punish them with a severity not currently known to humankind.

F*&% lifetime prison terms or even death by lethal injection (which is not an effective detterent b/c it takes 10/15 years to execute somebody)--the next time one of these idiots commits one of these heinous crimes we should impale them in front of the court house so that they die a slow and painful death or pour gasoline on them and burn them alive for all to see!!!!

Game over! Violent crime drastically reduced!

Westcoast you sound like you need a break! Go on and move to the burbs--no sense sacrificing your sanity and peace of mind!

1) DOUBLE the budget for law enforcement in cities. Raise the salary of policemen (doubling is a start) and expect a corresponding level of professionalism from them. Ive learned thr more $$ is offered for a position the higher quality person you get to fill it. More po-po. Better po-po.

2)Re vamp prison sentences. Jail should not be an option for deadbeat dads, weed sellers/smokers. Many non-violent offenders can be dealt with in a more creative and interactive way. MUCH heavier sentences for violent offenders both juvie and adult. First time violent offenders get INTENSE intervention in jail. Second time violent offenses, PUNITIVE prison terms.

3)Parents will be responsible and liable for damages caused by their kids. NO EXCEPTION. Garnishment WILL be levied on any public aid. Families with violent kids will be prohibited from section 8 housing. Parenting resources will be provided to anyone who wants them, mandatory for those with kids who commit crimes.

4)Absentee fathers will be required to spend time with their offspring. Those that dont will forfeit any public assistance and tax refunds. Those who fail to pay child support will work for the county cleaning streets and sorting recyclables from waste treatment centers.

5)No longer will Govt aid be given with no expectations from the recipient. Recipients will be required to better themselves and thier families by attending job training, parental training, drug counseling, GED prep, skill training. Those that dont, wont get a check.

6)No longer will cash be given as aid. Section 8 will be paid directly to the landlord. Food stamps will be user specific and require ID to be used. Random drug testing for all govt aid recipients.

7) More social service resources. Anybody who needs to educate themselves to be a better citizen, wife, father, mother, kick drugs, get a skill will be given at no charge.

8)IN patient drug treatment centers available on demand. More beds, many more beds.

9)REQUIRE parents to attend parent/teacher conferences. Serve dinner there if you have to but GET THEM INVOLVED.

OK, Ive stepped up with some ideas. Deconstruct if you choose, add some if you will. It will cost a bundle and I dont care. Im a white guy in a safe area of a safe town and Ill GLADLY pay more taxes even if the money isnt spent in my neighborhood. In my opinion the cost of these will be more than made up in the fewer murders, robberies, mayhem, chaos. Lower insurance costs. A better atmosphere for business in depressed communities means more tax revenues.

OOPS ONE MORE; lets make it an even 10) 10 min/mand sentence if you commit a crime with a gun. 20 yrs if than gun discharges. 5yr min/mand for posession of an unlicensed gun. 10yrs if youre a convicted felon.

RE paying cops more: Oakland offers some of the highest pay and benefits in the state. We still can't keep cops. Once we spend money on training them, they leave for saner environs. Also, there is a nationwide cop shortage. In California, a lot of cities have continuos recruitments for cops because it is so hard to find candidates. Also, a lot of sworn personnel are on leave and serving in Iraq. Finally, to be a cop, you have to have a pretty clean background and that is less common than in years gone by.

RE Section 8: I thought landlords WERE paid directly. The biggest problem with Section 8 is landlords that don't screen their tenants. Section 8 landlords should do the same background checks as they do for regular tenants. Section 8 landlords let anybody live in their buildlings because they are getting paid by the government no matter what. A friend lives in this nice little area of LA that has apartments in one section of it. One building went Section 8 and you don't hear a peep from those folks because the neighbors are not having it. Plus, there are development rules (CC&Rs) that everyone is required to live by.

That's why I believe in integrated housing. Any time you warehouse poor people in one place, you are going to have problems with crime. Criminals love to hide amongst poor people. Let the struggling class live around middle class folks whose kids have bedtimes, curfews, homework, chores, etc. and provide some opportunities to model better parental behavior.

Here's my suggestion. When a kid gets busted for something, mom and/or dad have to do community service. Nothing that will cut into their work hours but that makes the point that they are responsible for their kids. I am a firm believer that all this nonsense starts at home. That includes mom the doctor and dad the judge. If mon and/or dad is unemployed, it will give them something to do.

Good post Field. We can get pissed and wring our hands but the answers to the problem and problems in US society haven't changed. I think many have skillfully wrote about solutions on your blog. They still apply.

In the meantime most will go about their business as usual. But until folks are serious about changing the social/political/economic system we live under we will continue to have this conversation.The saddest thing is that most people know why these conditions exist, but would rather blame the victims.

I have a lot of thoughts on this and agree with 7 and 8 of Mr.White's suggestions and have problems with the others.

I like West Coast Story's idea about integrated housing. Question though: would people that are 'used' to living amongst crime and poverty even want to move/change?? You may think that's a crazy question, but I have heard people BRAG about being from poor, crime-infested neighborhoods...

Or will the kids from the poorer Section 8 families tease the kids that have curfews, chores, homework, and bedtimes (like they did to me in my old neighborhood)?? Not that they should care, of course.

Westcoast, if the cops in Oakland are among the highest paid, they still aint paid close to what theyre worth. DOUBLE IT! Whatever it is DOUBLE IT! might help with retention. Plenty of people out there with clean records, most dont want to chase thugs for $25k per year. Put that at $75k plus benefits and you might get some takers.

I think different states do different things with section 8. In my state they give the money to the recipient, in yours it might be different. I dont think the landlords can screen tenants if they are section 8 (may be wrong) I can see too many potential discrimination problems there. (just wanting asian sec 8ers for example). I think the landlord either accepts any section 8 people or he doesnt accept any.

I remember hearing that in Cali, neighbors can get section 8 people out of a home if they complain enough and I dont think the bar is high. In other areas section 8 renters usually bring the crime and chaos with them wherever they go. It isnt the areas that make a bad place bad, its the people that are there. Move them and the disfunction follows. It only makes sense. In most areas section 8 renters have exactly the same rights of inhabitance that regular renters have. Its VERY difficult to get them out and it brings the project mentality to people who moved to get away from that. Integrated housing isnt fair to those who did all the right things to get away from those people and the govt puts them right next door.

FUCK integrated housing! I live in Houston and watched whole apartment complexes and whole neighborhoods destroyed by all the Katrina evacuees. I lived in a middle class mostly black neighborhood that was pretty safe and clean, after the Katrina people moved in there were shootings every night. Cops always there. Robberies, assaults, rapes. The ghetto people brought the ghetto with them. Ever thought what makes the ghetto "ghetto"? Its the people living there. Fill the Robert Taylor housing projects with asians and youd have a safe place to live. Put the ghetto bros in Brentwood and you got the ghetto. DAMNED if Im gonna sit around and watch raggedy ignorant niggaz moved into MY safe hood by the govt. HELL I worked damn hard so I wouldnt have to deal with their garbage, crime, drama!

Well, it's called inclusionary zoning with respect to new housing construction and it requires that new construction include a certain level of affordable or low income housing units in an otherwise market rate housing project. Maybe a google search could dig up success stories, or not. Here's a link for more info:

http://www.policylink.org/EDTK/IZ/default.html

Developers hate this concept and it is still very controversial. Oakland adopted the policy recently and it will take years to see how it plays out here. There's a project under construction now that isolates the affordable/low income units in one building in a multi-building project. I don't think that's the best way to implement the policy but we'll see.

The tricky part is whether the units are low income or affordable. In this neck of the woods, affordable is a relative term and amounts to a unit that costs $250-300,000. I haven't a clue what constitutes low income.

In the LA example I gave, that is a housing development that is about 50+ years old. One apartment building became Section 8, the other apartments did not, and the single family dwellings are mostly owner occupied that sell in the $750,000+ range. It seems to be working out fine according to my friend.

Then in Pittsburg CA, a class action suit was filed yesterday (by some black folks and probably Latinos) against the cops for targeting Section 8 tenants for eviction. Other long-time black residents say the police targeted behavior and not Section 8. Pittsburg is a working/middle clas 'burb east of the hills that has been hammered by the foreclosure crisis and it has absorbed a lot of Section 8 tenants over the years due to the earlier housing crunch. A lot of folks from Oakland and Richmond moved out there and crime has in fact increased significantly. I bet the landlords out there did not screen tenants or have strict rules in their rental agreements.

I'm really done now. This has to be boring everyone to death. Hope someone who knows more about this than I do can provide better info.

Welcome to America! Someone should've told him his story doesn't mean anything here. All the hard work and everything makes for a sad story. Next time tell him he won't get a pass in this world. Violence is blind and will come after anyone.

What kind of world are we living it you ask? The one where the two "so called animals" felt the need to rob that guy. You can't ask a hungry man to not steal the pie from your window.

Get shocked, mad and sick if you want. Nothing will change and they'll be another story like this in a day or two.

"I'm really done now. This has to be boring everyone to death. Hope someone who knows more about this than I do can provide better info.

Sorry I hijacked your site, FN."

WCS, write as much as you want fam. that's why we care here. I am reading and learning.

I am still against the death penalty, and I am pro gun control,[having a gun would NOT have helped these poor people; unless they have three hands to work and hold their hammer at the same time.] but I am also for locking up these mofos and throwing away the keys, if they are found guilty.

This shit won't stop. Honestly, I could have posted another similar story tonight with some shit that went on just yesterday. (See Killadelphia murder count on my sidebar) I mean damn!

Somebody got murdered his name cannot be foundA small stain on the pavement, theyll scrub it off the groundAs the daily crowd disperses noone says that muchSomebody got murdered and its left me with a touch

Field, of course you know that this sort of thing is not uncommon in Mr. Ndeumajado's home country. I'm sure the same is true in your own home country. I suppose the main difference between inner city USA, Mali or Jamaica is the easy availability of firearms here.

Another difference between the good ol' USA and so-called "Third World" countries is that people there take matters into their own hands when dealing with these street punks. My wife tells me stories about thieves getting the shit beat out of them in the market in her native Nigeria.

Which reminds me of another story: I was riding in a car with my brother-in-law in Nigeria when I smelled a terrible stench. I looked around and saw a dead body by the side of the road. My brother-in-law told me this was either some poor unfortunate who had died there or a thief who had been the beneficiary of some "Street Justice."

While I was living in a black poor working class block, seeing the young grow up with or without parenting; I noticed two things, one, the children weren't born scum and that the outside culture had more pull than proper parenting. Some children were fascinated by criminal activity and others were not. Since it was hardly possible to move, I think if those children could have been able to go away, lets say to a boarding school; where they might see other possibilities. It may have helped them to take a different path. I have heard of some charter schools being successful because they were a boarding school. Changing the environment and the surrounding culture is something that needs to be done. Waiting for absentee fathers to be present or the other ills of our society to be changed, may take several generations. This past discussion has been what to do with the criminal, but not really what to do about the child before he becomes the criminal.

Anon- I agree, in part, with what you're saying. While the thugs are in the pen, people are safer.

However, the long term impact of negative reinforcement is minimal. For every criminal we lock up, ten or twenty or fifty are waiting in the wings.

Creating some kind of totalitarian society when it comes to crime, would only create more problems in the long run. How long before they come after you, or me, or our children?

If people honestly want change, then the conversation needs to change.

Instead of asking, "What do we do with these people?," we need to be asking, "Why are there so many people who don't give a fuck? What is wrong with American society?"

Because there is something seriously fucking wrong.

But see, that's where it gets dicey.

If we ask those questions, then All of Us will have to start looking in the mirror, and we don't want that, that's unpleasant.

This is, unfortunately, where I agree with Con-F.

We're all Guilty, and to suggest all we need do is lock away the thugs, and punish their parents is disingenuous, and, to be frank, lazy.

Personally, I'd suggest one of the biggest culprits is American capitalism.

I'm all for Capitalism, and making money (I own my business), but America's version of capitalism is perverted beyond recognition. It has completely warped reality here, and in the process, it's fucked up people's heads.

This story in Philly is one example. Two people get bucked down for what, a few hundred dollars?

But forget that story. That's nothing.

What about Corporations like Enron where they ruin thousands, and thousands of people's lives because 50 million a year just isn't enough, or, even more heinous, because of the "Thrill?"

If you've ever read anything about cases like Enron, you know those assholes say, "It wasn't about the money, as much as it was about the Game."

The Game?

Yes, that shit happens elsewhere, but not on the scale it does in "A-merry-ca."

Sociopathic behavior is glorified, and I'm sure there are circles where people like Ken Lay are considered "Geniuses." In fact,I know there are.

Things, stuff, possessions have replaced the human being, and we all participate in the madness whether we acknowledge it or not.

John b, I feel you, and I have seen the same type of brutality and random killings in Jamaica. But I think the tragic difference here is that this poor man (as so many folks from the Third World often do) bought into the dream, and came here only to meet the same fate that could have gotten him on the streets of Mali, and by one of his own people no less.

"However, the long term impact of negative reinforcement is minimal. For every criminal we lock up, ten or twenty or fifty are waiting in the wings."

fairlane that's a great point. We have to attack the root of the problem. I keep hoping this is generational and this will pass, but I don't know. Reagan's crack babies are almost all grown up now, and we are still having these problems.

"A nightmare where our government spends billions of dollars to protect people half way around the world, but can't spend even half of that to protect their own people right here at home. All the jobs are gone to China, the schools are gone to the dogs, and nobody gives a damn"

All politics is local Field. Looks like you can live the American Dream however as Philly turns into the Wild Wild East, maybe its time to require everybody to start packing. Lucky Pennsylvania is a state of not "mob rule" like New York (meaning if your a politician running for something state wide you have to visit places like Altoona, Duboius, St Marys to wind a election and those areas of the state loves there guns.Besides that fact, honestly what could of Government do other than make the problem worse. Stop crying to Washington and look towards Center City or better yet, stand up for that Phlly community and say "the shit stops today" and get these losers dead or alive. Yes I know its hard to look around and say "we can't blame whitey" however its the time to say this is unacceptable.

There is a great reason why American spends money overseas before in cities like Philly... they will see a return on there investment. Philly help yourself!

Okay, I need to chime in on this "Why is it only blacks, why is only us in the Black Community" stuff.

Let me explain, I've spent roughly half of my life in the hood and half in the burbs....and the biggest difference is the LACK of illegal guns in the burbs and the violence that goes with that.

So many problems that people assume are limited to the hood does in fact exist in the burbs. In spades. And let me preface this by noting that the "burb" in question is a suburb of Philly, roughly 30 minutes away from Center City. Rich as hell.

RAMPANT drug trade? Check. It actually thrives MORE in the 'burbs because people have much more money to spend on it. Unlike in the city, its a sellers market. In fact, the suburbs and the ghetto have essentially formed a symbiotic relationship when it comes to drugs. Dealers in the know go to one of the drug meccas in North Philly, buy in bulk, and bring it back to the suburbs where they can break it up, water it down, jack up the price and make a nice profit. White kids ODing and dying is a common occurance. However I should note that the majority of these deaths are caused by the real drug epidemic you never hear about: pills.

Fucked up parents turning a blind eye to their child's behaivor? Check. Honestly I get angry when people pretend this is a exclusively black problem. It's not. It's an AMERICAN PROBLEM and nothing has convinced me of this more than seeing how alot of these rich suburban parents treat their children. American families are coming apart at the fucking seams, people.

Its like alot of the parents of the rich kids would just be in "autopilot" mode. "Good grades, I can afford to send the kid to college, no worries." So why not buy 9 year old Becky thongs and hip-hugger jeans? Jimmy got busted driving drunk with coke in the backseat? Don't sweat it son, I'll call my super-lawyer.

It's bizzare how the suburbs mimic hood symptoms but not the terminal diaseses. Tough guys and lost yung bouls run around robbing people and mom and pop stores with guns, but they never squeeze them and kill anyone. Girls try to fill the void in their life by fucking like AIDS don't exist, but they either know how to correctly use contraception or can afford abortions easier because the armys of baby mamas don't exist out here. It pisses me off.

And let me say something to everyone embracing the "more prison time" theory. Every other country in the world looks at America's prison system in sheer disbelief because among Western nations we more or less have the most dracoian prison terms, the most prisons, the most prisoners, and the biggest prison budget. And all of it has added up to zilch in terms of permanently reducing violent crime in this country. Let me say it again: ZILCH. In the meantime our prisons have become complete hellholes that are overflowing with gangs, racism, MORE crime, and corruption. Watch "Lockup" on MSNBC sometime and see how "rehabilitating" those facilities look to you. They're not punishment for criminals, they're COLLEGE for criminals.

And finally, us and the press will wail and cry and throw up our hands at Philly's murder rate...."400! How terrible! What's wrong with us?!" But when that rate plummets down to a "mere" 250, what happens then? It disappears from the front pages. People stop talking about it. The "Killy Murder Rate" counter disappears from this blog. It ceases to be an issue. Damn near everyone forgets, except the people still trapped in those same hellholes, of course. And yet, that 250 number would be DOUBLE the murder rate of Toronto. (Canada's most violent and blackest city, which is larger than Philly I might add) And that 250 number would STILL be coming from the SAME DAMN NEIGHBORHOODS it came from when this all started in the late 60s. Those same neighborhoods that were wrecked by riots and NEVER came back.

So, brothers and sisters, I'm getting mighty damn tired of not just the violence but the same predictable-ass reactions to said violence. "Better parenting will fix this." "More gov't money will fix this." "More cops will fix this." "More prison time will fix this." "More gun control will fix this." "Less violence in the media will fix this." "Gruesome executions of criminals would fix this." We've been stuck running on this same bullshit idealogical treadmill for 40 years now and we've barely broken a sweat.

No singaporeswim, I didn't. Wow! Thanks for the link. But this is what I am talking about. If you don't live in the communities where these terrible things are taking place, you would never hear about them.

Not important enough for the MSM I guess~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NOT TRUE! I am new here and I am sure I don't have enough knowledge of your blog to disagree, but this story HAS been in the news and I and others look for updates daily. There were two young girls killed in Oklahoma and you don't hear any more about that case than you do of Mya's. Is it important that these girls were not all the same race? Not to me, they were children, female children. I find the discrimination and crimes against women a bigger problem in society. You shouldn't blame others for doing the same thing you are doing.There is too much killing in this world, we need to find reasons to join, not reasons to point fingers. I have heard of the "pretty white girl" syndrome, I think it is over exaggerated. Sorry, if I offend anyone, that is not my intention.

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